Breakers have No. 3 pick in Feb. 7 draft

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) clubs will continue to build their rosters in preparation for the inaugural season through a Supplemental Draft that will be held on Feb. 7. The Supplemental Draft will consist of six rounds, and the Breakers have the No. 3 overall pick.

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) clubs will continue to build their rosters in preparation for the inaugural season through a Supplemental Draft that will be held Feb. 7. The Supplemental Draft will consist of six rounds, and the Breakers have the No. 3 overall pick. The Draft will be held via conference call.

Each of the eight NWSL clubs will submit a list of 8-10 players by end of today who will be eligible for the Supplemental Draft. Both domestic and international players are eligible for the Supplemental Draft, but each team is allowed two international players in addition to those that were allocated.

The selection order for the draft was determined by several factors, including the order in which the college draft was conducted and how teams have been impacted by the projected absences of previously allocated national team players for all or part of the inaugural season.

The Supplemental Draft order is as follows:

1) Washington Spirit

2) Seattle Reign FC

3) Boston Breakers

4) Chicago Red Stars

5) Sky Blue FC

6) FC Kansas City

7) Western New York

8) Portland Thorns FC

After the Supplemental Draft, clubs may claim up to four Discovery Players, securing the rights to sign those players heading into preseason training camps. Discovery Players may be either international or domestic. Players who were eligible for but not selected in the Supplemental Draft or College Draft may be claimed as Discovery Players. The rights to Discovery Players will be allocated to a team on a “date of submission priority” basis. If two teams submit the same player, the team that submitted the player first will have the opportunity to sign that player.

Players who were not on the submitted lists of the NWSL clubs are not eligible for the Supplemental Draft, but may be claimed as Discovery Players following the draft. Teams will be allowed to carry 18-20 players on their regular season rosters.

The clubs have been building their rosters since Jan. 9, when each team was allocated three players from the U.S. Women's National Team (with the exception of the Western New York Flash, which received two) as well as two players from the Canada and Mexico National Teams. Each of the clubs then added four players at the 2013 NWSL College Draft in Indianapolis on Jan. 18, bringing their rosters to 10-11 players.

Following the College Draft, a two-week period commenced in which teams could sign four - and in some cases five - additional players of their choice. The teams allowed to sign five additional players during this period were the Chicago Red Stars, Seattle Reign, Washington Spirit and Western New York Flash due to due to unforeseen absences or late season arrivals of allocated players. The two-week period to sign additional players ended Thursday, at which time each NWSL roster will be at a maximum of 15 players.

"The next week is crucial to team-building, as the additional signings and the Supplemental Draft picks will help to define each club," said NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey. "At this point, the fans and media will begin to get a look at the diverse group of talented athletes who will play in NWSL's inaugural season."

The NWSL is an eight-team league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation that will begin play in the spring of 2013. U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of the 23 American players, while the Canadian Soccer Association and the Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for 16 players. The eight founding clubs are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey), the Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.

NWSL Roster-Building Process

Jan. 9: USA, Canada and Mexico National Team Players are allocated to clubs

Jan. 18: NWSL College Draft

Jan. 18-31: Clubs can sign up to four additional players*

Feb. 1: Clubs submit up to 8-10 players for Supplemental Draft

Feb. 7: NWSL Supplemental Draft

Feb. 8: Discovery Players can be signed

*Western New York, Chicago, Washington and Seattle are allowed to sign up to five players